Helen Huntingdon (née Lawrence)
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Invoked and savaged. Helen's marriage to Arthur Huntingdon turns out to be an absolute nightmare.
- Broken Bird
- Dark and Troubled Past
- Does Not Like Men: Natural result of Domestic Abuse.
- False Widow
- Loved I Not Honor More
- Loving a Shadow: Helen thought Huntingdon was a better man than he was and that she could change him.
- Lysistrata Gambit
- Mama Bear
- My God, What Have I Done?
- Narrator for most of the book via her diary.
- Plucky Girl
- Proper Lady: Despite the presence of straight examples, ultimately Deconstructed — the lovely and virtuous Helen utterly fails to keep her husband on the straight and narrow due to his lack of self discipline and crowd of poisonous friends.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
- The Rival: To Anabella Wilmot, for Arthur Huntigton's affection before and after Helen marries him.
- Statuesque Stunner: She is mentioned to be tall in the books, and while too thin, attractive.
- You Go, Girl!: The heroine of "the First Feminist Novel," after all.
Gilbert Markham
- Anguished Declaration of Love
- Crazy Jealous Guy
- Dogged Nice Guy
- The Dutiful Son
- Farm Boy
- Honor Before Reason: Post-Character Development
- I Can't Believe A Girl Like You Would Notice Me
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
- Momma's Boy
- My God, What Have I Done?: Who'd have thought a Relative Error could have such disastrous consequences?
- Narrator of the Framing Device of a letter to his brother-in-law.
- Pet the Dog: In typical Bronte tradition.
- Second Love
- Unreliable Narrator
- What the Hell, Hero?
Frederick Lawrence
- Big Brother Instinct
- Knight in Shining Armor: For both Helen and Esther Hargrave.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits
- The Quiet One
- Relative Error
Arthur Huntingdon
- Alas, Poor Villain
- The Alcoholic
- All Take and No Give
- Asshole Victim: His death is portrayed as more satisfying than tragic.
- The Casanova
- Crazy Jealous Guy
- Death Equals Redemption
- Faux Affably Evil
- Hair-Trigger Temper: An unjustified example of this trope in his case no less.
- The Hedonist
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Kills himself with his drinking and self-indulgence.
- Honor Before Reason: Gone Horribly Right for him.
- I'm a Man; I Can't Help It: Considers his affair and skirt chasing ways to just be natural for a man rather than attempting to have an ounce of self control or discussing his intentions of infidelity with his wife so that she can understand the relationship she's getting into.
- It's All About Me: How far does his egocentricity go? He accuses Helen of being "too religious", because her devotion to God makes her think less about him.
- Jerkass
- Laser-Guided Karma
- Loving a Shadow: Huntingdon thought Helen would be more submissive and docile.
- Malicious Slander
- Manchild
- Momma's Boy: Helen reports that Huntingdon's mother spoiled him thoroughly. Huntingdon seems to want Helen to emulate this behavior in their marriage. His jealousy towards his son certainly looks a lot like a jealous older sibling.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After he realizes choking Helen to death does not solve everyone's problems.
- Prince Charmless
Walter Hargrave
- Big Brother Instinct: Helen expects Hargrave to pull this when Hattersley is bullying Millicent. He tries, but not very hard.
- Dogged Nice Guy
- Hypocrite
- Prince Charming Wannabe
- Stalker with a Crush
- Wrong Genre Savvy
Annabella Lowborough (née Wilmot)
- Brutal Honesty: One of the rare reasons Helen has to admire her.
- The Charmer
- Faux Affably Evil
- Gold Digger
- Rich Bitch
- The Rival: To Helen with Arthur Huntigton before and after Helen's marriage with him.
- The Vamp
Millicent Hattersley (née Hargrave)
Esther Lawrence (née Hargrave)
- Abusive Parents: Her mother.
- The Cutie
- Determinator
- Marry for Love
- Plucky Girl
